The Irish Aviation Authority has directed the country’s airlines to suspend operations to and from Sharm el-Sheikh Airport as well, AirLive.net
reported. The world’s largest charter airline, Thomson Airways, which flies from the UK and Ireland, has also temporarily suspended its flights to
and from the Egyptian resort destination with immediate effect.

I've been leaning towards a bomb as the cause of this crash. What puzzles me (unless it's due to an overabundance of caution) is that Putin hasn't
spoken up about this since this happened. Why is that?

He strikes me as the type of person who, if he finds this was a deliberate act, won't hesistate to strike back.....rather harshly I may add.

There's a lot being said by a lot of people, none of whom are the actual investigators. Is a bomb possible? Certainly. Is a mechanical problem
possible? Definitely. So far everything from the investigators themselves is leaning towards mechanical.

More mainstream outlets are covering this latest development, inc. CNN.

Re. the above source (Telegraph), here is an excerpt that brings up a point I've been making about Putin:

By suspending all flights between Britain and Sharm el-Sheikh pending a security review, David Cameron has now given the clearest indication yet
that governments believe terrorism may be at the root of the disaster.
If so, Vladimir Putin and his advisors will have to think hard about how to respond.

Pollsters say Russian public support for the Syrian adventure, though high, is fragile. While many Russians are happy with the abstract idea of
‘bombing terrorists,” few are prepared to take casualties by getting involved in a far-away civil war.

However, one reason for that ambivalence is that many Russians don’t really see Isil as an imminent threat to national security. If Isil’s claims
of responsibility turn out to be genuine, it may actually boost public support for Mr Putin’s war in Syria - at least in the short term.

Either way, he and his government will come under massive pressure to respond, forcefully and visibly, against the perpetrators.

Putin just can't keep still about this for much longer. Not only for the sake of the victims' families, but his reputation as well. He doesn't come
across as one who will sit on something like this for too long.

How he will react will, in part, be due to who is responsible (ISIS), and whoever helped ISIS - if this turns out to have been a bomb.

It looks like the UK acted on the US intelligence but not much coming out about the intelligence apart from "additional activity in the saini region
that caught our attention" before and after the crash all related to "internal messages seperate to the public claims of responsibility already
made"

originally posted by: dianajune
I've been leaning towards a bomb as the cause of this crash. What puzzles me (unless it's due to an overabundance of caution) is that Putin hasn't
spoken up about this since this happened. Why is that?

Because Putin is a professional at what he does, and is waiting for the professional investigators to conclude their complicated and in-depth
investigation so that he knows what he's talking about before putting his foot in his mouth?

originally posted by: RadioRobert
Because Putin is a professional at what he does, and is waiting for the professional investigators to conclude their complicated and in-depth
investigation so that he knows what he's talking about before putting his foot in his mouth?

Yeah, so professional he tried to block investigations into the downing of flight MH17, then tried to present false evidence about it being shot down
by Ukrainian fighters.

Could an engine explosion cause those shrapnel holes that can be seen in various places with the majority looking like they came from inside the
aircraft (peeling outwards).
Could this just be debris being sucked out during a decompression?

Sorry about pic quality. Plenty of news articles with a much clearer version.

Both. An uncontained failure is going to throw pieces through the engine and into the fuselage. Depending on where they hit, if nothing is in the way
they will keep going out the other side. They will also cause damage inside the fuselage and cause other explosions, again depending on where they
hit. Those will also send shrapnel flying.

Yeah I don't think it will be possible to draw any conclusions now without some hard evidence.

I have been to Egypt quite a few times to both Sharm & Hurghada. This article I came across mirrors my thoughts on the accident from what we know so
far and my experiences in Egypt and with Russians in Egypt.

Weeks. You can get preliminary data within a day or two. If you want detailed data, you're looking at up to a month if the recorder is in good
condition.

To transcribe the CVR, you run it through decoding software, then listen to it to determine if it's usable. Then after listening once or twice, you
get a group of people together, and they all listen and take notes on what they hear. Then they compare notes. If there are any parts that are hard to
distinguish, a majority of the group has to agree on what they heard.

The DFDR records so much information about the aircraft that it takes a long time to do a detailed analysis of everything it got up to the crash.

Right now the CVR recorded unusual sounds prior to the crash that are not consistent with a bomb. With a bomb there is usually just a sudden end to
the recording.

The FDR and on site investigators both appear to have found engine related problems prior to the accident.

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